Dale Earnhardt Jr. appeared on CBS This Morning on Wednesday and read a letter he wrote to himself, reflecting on his relationship with his father and his rise to stardom as NASCAR’s most popular driver.

Earnhardt Jr., who will begin his quest for the Sprint Cup championship this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway, was featured in CBS’ “Note To Self” segment in which he wrote a letter to the 16-year-old version of himself.

“To a 16-year-old Dale Jr.,” the segment begins as Earnhardt reads his letter.

“Writing this letter to you is going to force me to think pretty deeply about my life, and you know thinking deeply was never one of your favorite activities. You always did and always will shoot for the C on your report card. Anything more than that is always going to be a surprise to you.”

Earnhardt Jr. reflects upon growing up in Kannapolis, N.C. as the son of the seven-time Cup champion and NASCAR’s biggest star.

“You just got your driver’s license, your heart belongs to no one and you are going to spend a lot of nights laying in the bed of your S-10 pickup truck staring up at the stars and worrying about your future,” Earnhardt Jr. writes.

He also wrote that his father’s accomplishments cast a “pretty heavy shadow” over him and that his “fear of living anonymously and forgotten” continued to grow.

Earnhardt Jr. also writes about his mother, Brenda Jackson, who he didn’t have much of a relationship with growing up. Jackson and Earnhardt Sr. separated when Earnhardt Jr. was a small child.

“You don’t have much of a connection with your mother, and your efforts in that regard are disappointing,” Earnhardt Jr. wrote. “… In the future, she is going to become a consistent, prominent figure in your life. But you shouldn’t waste the years in between because her love is a truly, unconditional kind and you shouldn’t take it for granted.”

He also writes about his sometimes-strained relationship with his father, but how it grew over time. He says that living with his father did not bridge the gap between the two, but that over time, they developed an “incredible relationship.”

Earnhardt Jr. recalls a time when his father gave him some valuable advice that helped him early in his career.

“One afternoon, after you have crashed a car, you are going to go home thinking your career is over, and busting in through the door comes your dad, wondering why you are feeling sorry for yourself,” he said. “And you and him are going to go out on the back steps and for the next two hours you are going to have the most influential conversation you have ever had with him. He is going to finally assure you of what lies ahead.

“You’ll share laughs and triumphs by his side. It will be in your best interest that, when those times come, that you get everything out of him that you possibly can. When it’s you and him, in that moment … in that moment, you live it to the fullest.”

Earnhardt Sr. was killed on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, during Earnhardt Jr.’s second full season on the Sprint Cup circuit.

Earnhardt Jr. also reflects on the early years of his career, when he was trying to step out from under his father’s shadow and develop the confidence to be a successful driver at NASCAR’s highest level.

He wrote that his early career felt “clunky and impromptu,” and that he was “so deathly frightened of potential failure that you’re not going to realize just how much fun you are having.

“You are going to win a lot of races,” he writes, “and as painfully shy as you are, you will accomplish and overcome in arenas not just limited to driving cars. You are going to meet Presidents and you are going to guest on late-shows.

“It’s incredible, but it’s true. That’s not too bad for a guy who changes oil for a living. Yes, you are going to change oil for a couple of years.”

Earnhardt Jr. concludes his letter by reflecting on the lessons he’s learned and by offering some advice to the younger version of himself.

“Overall, you just need to be more sure of yourself,” he writes. “You are going to do great things, you are going to have an awesome life. You have a great heart and it is going to stay with you throughout.

“So don’t be so timid and worrisome about the future so much so that you can’t enjoy the present. … You just need to go have some fun. Jump in that S-10 and go down to Concord (N.C.) and cruise the strip, because you are going to be here soon enough.”